Friendship Never Fails
by cyberpeajay
Summary: Twilight discovers there are Elements of Disharmony in the same location she found the Harmonic elements. However, something goes terribly wrong and now the main 6 are the most wanted ponies in Equestria!
1. The Book

**Mandatory Disclaimer:**___'My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic' is owned by it's respective owners such as Lauren Faust and Hasbro. I claim no ownership for any content like characters, locations and all basic premises. This is strictly for parody use and there is no financial gain at all for me. This is just for entertainment value and is actually meant to promote the show. You can download individual episodes from iTunes for $3.00 each. _

With that out of the way, I have a few notes for the readers:

**1)** This is **NOT **my first fanfic and I do have another account on , but I will not tell it.  
><strong>2)<strong> The story was thought out through several days and was organized throughout a written storyboard for maximum intrigue.  
><strong>3)<strong> There **ISN'T** any swearing, gore, or sexual content. A mother could read this to her kid as a bedtime story if she wanted to. This isn't to say it's a frilly girly story, I try to stick with the general MLP FiM theme of things and make this exciting for everyone. Mild violence in the later chapters. (Fighting).  
><strong>4)<strong> If you have an imagination and can see clear pictures in your mind, this story will seem like a movie. This is how it's supposed to feel.  
><strong>5)<strong> This story includes adventure, suspense and some comedy.

**Description:** When Twilight discovers there are Elements of Disharmony lying around somewhere in Equestria, she and her friends go out in search of obtaining them before they fall in the wrong hooves. However the Elements of Disharmony are mischievous, and cause the mane six an extraordinary amount of trouble. All of Equestria is affected by disharmony, now the six friends who represent harmony must save it, before permanent chaos takes over!

Without further Ado, I present to you:

**My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic:**  
><span>Friendship Never Fails<br>(Play extended theme song)

A long time ago, long before Ponyville, long before Canterlot, long before princess Celestia and Luna, long before The Elements of Harmony... Actually, this is how the Elements of Harmony materialized: The pony's of Equestria were joyful and continued on their simplistic ways. No pony was ever harmed by one another, each and every one respected all. There was no fighting, no mishaps and certainly no wars. You could say this age was harmonic on its own. No special entities were needed, for everything was absolutely peaceful.

However one fateful night, the residents of Equestria were awoken by sounds they had never heard before. Screaming? Out in the darkness of the night was a tirade of chaos. Houses were being torn to shreds and the town within were being devoured. What could have caused this? The infamous pony clan who called themselves 'Ponytact' rolled through. A small group of outcasts who were banished from society due to their disobedience and stoicism. They were the brutes of Equestria and had no respect for others with little care of what they did to any pony.

Normally the Ponytact's could be chased back out of town. However this time was different... The unicorns could not use their magical abilities to teleport them elsewhere nor could the pegasi drop them out. For Earth pony's the Ponytact's seemed rather strong. Something was changed about them. Their normal eyes were a shade of red and their bodies were a darker shade than once before. With resistance weakening, the most powerful unicorns were sought out to harness all their magical energy together. They were all lined up and shot their magic right into the six rebellious Earth pony's. This slowed them down, but did not stop them. As soon as a Ponytact was wounded, it would unleash another burst of chaos and just like that the wound was gone. However the unicorns were just luring the Ponytact clan to them.

Eventually the Ponytact's grew tiresome of getting attacked constantly and all lined up for a battle with the powerful unicorns. It was a standoff. The Ponytact group parted. Half moved slightly left, and half moved slightly right. A larger unicorn pony walked in between them and up through the middle slowly towards the other unicorns. Every pony sat there in awe and just stared at the darker, larger unicorn of the Ponytact clan. It smirked, flicked its wrist and all of the powerful unicorns were flung at least twenty yards away. The rest of the clan walked up and stood before their unicorn ruler. But now the rest of the powerful unicorns stood and smirked themselves. The Ponytact's were confused. What did they have to smirk about?

Just then giant flashes of light were coming from five different corners surrounding the rebellious clan. They were frantically looking around trying to understand what was going on around them, and how they were being affected. They wanted to flee but couldn't. Their legs wouldn't respond to the commands their brain was telling them. All of a sudden one by one, each Ponytact member was turned grey. They were rock solid and fell to the ground with a thud. With the Ponytact clan turned to stone, the larger unicorn leader even began to quiver. Slowly but surely from the hooves up to the tip of its horn, the great unicorn also came down with an earth shaking large thump. The flashes of light grew to one intense flash and died down. This is how the Ponytact's were defeated.

The powerful Equestrian unicorns came to the center where the clan was frozen in disarray expressions. Half the unicorns were in charge of hiding the Pontact's deep in their secret temples to never be awoken again, while the other half gathered the stone spheres that were responsible for turning the clan into rock solid sculptures. These round stones were placed in the highest chamber of the most guarded sanctuary in the town. These were dubbed: The Elements of Harmony. For everything good, there is something bad to even out. The now stone sculptures of the Ponytact clan were dubbed: The Elements of Disharmony.

"To this very day the Elements of Disharmony were never retrieved. But if they were to fall in the wrong hooves, the consequences could be catastrophic." Twilight finished, closing the book she just finished reading. She sat on the library floor pondering to herself if she should believe a dusty old book with no credited author. Was any of this true, or was this just a big fairy tale?

Twilight suddenly jumped up from a loud crashing sound that came from behind. She turned her head and saw a pile of books on the ground with a small purple dragon emerging from the mess. Spike shook his face then looked at the books on the floor. He gave a cheeky grin as he noticed Twilight's uneasy look.

"Sorry about that Twi." Spike said as he was picking up the books one at a time. "I was trying to clean up these books you left lying around and I sorta fell."

"I can see that." Responded Twilight. "Perhaps you should put them back on the shelves one by one."

"Perhaps you can read them one by one." Spike muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Spike said while reshelving the books.

"Hey, what's that one?" Twilight pointed a hoof towards one of the books in Spikes hand.

Spike held up a faded purplish, leathery thin book. "You mean this one? Uh.." Spike read the title out loud for Twilight to hear. "Medieval Equestrian History." He tilted the book to its side to see its scarcity in pages. "Isn't this pretty thin for a history book?" He asked. A purple aurora engulfed the book and got ripped out of Spike's grasp as he fell over from the tugging motion. He groaned as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Hmm. This looks exactly like the book I just read... Except condensed." She compared the two books and noticed that she was in fact right. Both books looked exactly the same, except one was much thinner. She scanned the pages of the smaller book and gasped. "Hey, what the? Did you wreck another book Spike?" She asked him calmly.

"No. I only touch books when I have to clean them up." Spike replied while shelving the last few books in his arms.

Twilight walked across the room into better sunlight to see that she was infact seeing correctly. "Well something happened to it then, because there appears to be pages missing." She turned the book so Spike could see that there were indeed pages that looked to be ripped out.

Spike shrugged. "I honestly don't know Twi." He said, then turned to walk upstairs. "I'm gonna take a nap now. Too many books, ugh." Then flopped on his bed.

Twilight just stood there dumbfounded. She scanned the pages of both books and noticed the book she read, and the book with the pages ripped out, ended at the exact same phrase, _'To this very day the Elements of Disharmony were never retrieved. But if they were to fall in the wrong hooves, the consequences could be catastrophic.' _

"It's almost like the author wanted to hide something, and rewrote the book." She just stood there thinking while staring blindly into space. She shook her head really fast then flopped the books to the ground and talked to herself silently. "Come on Twilight. A book is missing a few pages whoop-dee-doo. It's not like its a mystery or anything." She said smiling and continued on with her daily routine.

"Come on Applejack, ah wanna help!" Applebloom pleaded to her sister.

Applejack just bucked a tree with a bushel of apples falling right into buckets sitting nearby. "Ah know you wanna help Applebloom, but all Big Mac and I are doin' is buckin' the trees today." She responded.

"Well is there anything ah could do at all?" Applebloom asked.

"What are your friends up to? Couldn't you be doin' that cruisady thing you always do?"

"Ah meant is there anything I could do on tha farm?" She replied. "Besides, the other two are busy today anyway. That's why ah wanna help!"

Applejack just shook her head. "Sorry sis, but until tomorrow ah'm afraid yer plum outta luck." She bucked the tree again getting the last few apples to drop.

Applebloom turned towards Big Mac who kicked the tree with one leg which caused all the apples to fall at once. Big Mac looked towards his little sister and just shook his head. "Nnnope." He picked up his buckets and walked towards the next tree.

"We'll be making apple cider and apple juice tomorrow Applebloom." Applejack said. "Then you will be a mighty fine help." She winked at her sister and continued onto the next tree.

"Ah yes! Blue ribbon always does the trick does it not?" Rarity stated to herself and floated shiny blue ribbon over a minijupe she just designed. She walked backwards and turned to admire her handy work. "Now for some baby blue sapphires and everything will be perfect!"

"Are you sure? I would think some yellow gems would go with it." A squeaky voice came from behind Rarity.

"Who is the owner of the boutique?" Asked Rarity not removing her gaze from her new dress.

"You are..." Said Sweetie Belle pawing the floor. "Can I go to my friends? I'm so bored."

Rarity spun around then started to walk slowly towards the chest with sapphires. "No Sweetie. You asked if you could come over and help me, not come over then go to your silly little club house." Rarity said. "Now come. I need you to hold the garment still while I place these sapphires on it."

"What? Why do you need me to hold it still? Does fabric move when in proximity to shiny stones?" Asked Sweetie rhetorically. Rarity just sighed and closed her eyes. "Oh all right." She said and held the dress with a lame look on her face.

"Oh no! I don't have enough sapphire!" Rarity panicked while holding an open chest upside down with her magic and shaking it." She looked at Sweetie. "You didn't happen to make another art project did you?" Rarity sighed. "Guess I'll have to find some more! But this dress isn't due for another week so I'll just work on another project."

"Rarity! Now can I go to my friends?"

"Sweetie Belle! Honestly! You said you wanted to help, so help you shall do."

Clouds were just floating gingerly in the sky. That was until Rainbow Dash flew through and punctured a hole in them. "Man what a day." She said as she descended and plopped onto an untouched cloud. "You know what would top this day off? A nap." She slammed her head against the cloud and closed her eyes.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow's eyes opened immediately. She peered over her cloud and saw Pinkie Pie. She floated down towards the pink party pony with a smile and yawn. "Hey Pinkie. What's up?"

"I just wanted to know if you were up for some super duper neato pranks?" Pinkie said leaning forward towards her friend that she was standing on just her front hooves.

"Maybe some other time Pinkie." Rainbow said. "I'm actually really tired right now. Us pegasi had to get up early for a scheduled rain storm." Rainbow said hiding a yawn.

Pinkie Pie looked puzzled for a second then grinned again, "I understand Dashie! Your work is important." Pinkie nodded up and down extremely quick. "That's okay. I can just go to Sugar Cube Corner and bake sweets then eat them when they're done! Then maybe afterwards I'll make chocolate cake!" Pinkie nodded again.

"Yeah you do that." Was all Rainbow Dash could contribute to the conversation then flew back up to her cloud. Pinkie waved enthusiastically then bounced off towards her home. Rainbow landed on her soft pillowy cloud and fell asleep almost instantaneous. "What's with the rain storm schedule anyway?" She asked herself before falling into unconsciousness.

"Everyone enjoying their supper?" A soft mellow voice asked. An abundance of creatures nodded their heads as they cheerfully chewed away at their food. "That's good." Fluttershy smiled then went inside her fair cottage. She laid on the sofa and started eating some hay.

Angel bounced up then pointed to his bowl while tapping his foot giving a sour scowl. Angel caught Fluttershy's attention and she walked towards her animal friend. Fluttershy's eyes went into sorrow mode and apologized. "Oh Angel I'm so sorry!" She got off the couch and trotted over to a counter. "I can't believe I forgot. I never forget." She opened a cabinet and moved just in time to avoid a mug that fell out and smashed on the floor, startling half the animals inside. "Don't worry everyone. It was just a cup that fell." The animals calmed down and continued grazing. As Fluttershy was getting out the food for Angel she couldn't help but look at the broken glass.

She gave Angel his food and picked up the pieces. Fluttershy noticed this was the mug she earned up in Cloudsdale. It had a picture of a cloud with a rainbow coming out of it and text saying 'Junior Speedsters Flight Camp'. "How could I have been so careless?" She asked herself. "If I want, I could just go get another one. It's a good excuse to be able to talk my old teacher! Oh she would be so excited to see me." She grinned then her ears drooped along with her smile and cowered a bit, "As long as Mr. Griffin isn't there, he yells too much."

It was nearing night and the sun was lowering behind the horizon. Its orange glow bathed Ponyville with a picture perfect sunset and Luna's moon was slowly rising over the opposite side. Twilight's tree house was lit up on the inside and the unicorn was having supper with her assistant.

"So Twi, I noticed a bunch of books lying on the floor again when I woke up from my nap." Spike said between bites while looking lamely at his what he considered, older sister.

"Yeah I had nothing to do so I read some more." Said Twilight. Spike just stared at Twilight with half open eyes then peered over to the scattered books. Twilight noticed this and put her sandwich on her plate. "Don't worry Spike I'll put those ones away myself." She reassured him.

"Yes. You will." Said Spike while taking a bite.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Said Spike. Twilight just gave an odd expression then took another chunk out of her sandwich.

Later that night Twilight was shelving the books she read and re-read earlier.

"Anything to report to the princess?" Spike asked while holding a quill and parchment.

"Well I didn't really see my friends today so there's nothing to report." Twilight responded. "Also it's not Tuesday."

"Alright." Was all Spike said and set everything down then walked back upstairs. "You coming Twi? It's getting late." he said while looking down.

"Yeah I'm coming, don't worry."

The full moon was now hovering well above Equestria emitting nice dim light. Twilight trotted up the stairs and slowly slipped in her bed. She leaned up and saw Spike was sound asleep and snoring like usual. She just rolled her eyes and fell backwards into her bed.

_ Twilight was standing at the edge of a cliff looking over a vast valley of forest and a river gliding through it. Her mane and tail were blowing in the wind as she stood there. She whipped around to see a Cyan pegasis standing behind her awaiting orders. _

_ "Windflow, I want you to circle the perimeter of our peaceful village. We can't have those Ponytact's surprise us again." Windflow gave a salute and took to the sky. "Now you!" She pointed at a light yellow pegasis. The pegasis pointed at herself with a confused look. "Yeah you, Skutterfly. Do the same thing, however remain on the opposite side of Windflow." Skutterfly nodded and took off slower than usual._

_ "Ooh ooh! How about me?" Bounced a happy looking pink earth pony. _

_ "I want you and Faddlejack to stay up here and keep a lookout. Got that?" Twilight commanded._

_ "No problemo Twi-fight Twilight!"_

_ "Err yeah..." Twilight responded. "Finally Scarcity and I will remain on the ground in the village." She said closing her eyes and walking past every pony. She opened them and turned to face the remainder of her team. "With our magic we can defend ourselves. So every pony understand? We must stand guard incase the Ponytact's attack tonight." She slammed her left hoof on the ground. "And if things get rough when they show up, we will no longer try to sway them away. We will unleash our full power!" Twilight said. "Let's go." She motioned to Scarcity and they started walking down the mountain toward the village._

_ All was calm and quiet through the night. Twilight looked up in the sky to see Windflow and Skutterfly circling. She turned her head and saw the two earth ponies peering over the cliff. Scarcity was walking lazily around. "Do we have to do this all night Twilight?" Scarcity complained._

_ "Yes. The Ponytact's were spotted not far from here earlier today. We cannot be too careful." Twilight responded._

_ "Well if they do attack they should make it snappy. I'm missing my beauty sleep." Scarcity replied. "By the way, when you said unleash our full power.. Did you mean?"_

_ "Yes I did. I'm tired of having to fix the mess they cause due to their lack of consideration for others. I will rid these tyrants of Equestria forever. Enough is enough." Twilight said._

_ "So, are they in place?" Asked Scarcity._

_ "Yes. I've positioned them in such a way that they will all be affected." She stopped and saw a unicorn sleeping against a house. She trotted over and smacked him in the face. "Man your post soldier!" She snapped which caused the unicorn to stand immediately and salute. Twilight walked back over to Scarcity. "Honestly, some ponies..." Twilight complained to Scarcity. She looked over and saw Scarcity lying on the ground with her eyes closed. "Oh for Pete's sake!" Scarcity opened her eyes and stood._

_ "I was uh.. listening through the ground if I, heard. Um, hoof steps coming." She grinned._

_ Twilight looked lamely at her. "Uh huh."_

_ All of a sudden some shouting from above was heard. Windflow and Skutterfly were coming down from the sky. "They're coming!" Yelled Windflow. Just then Faddlejack was yelling from their post confirming this was indeed the Ponytact's headed into town. _

_ "Enough playing around. This time it's serious." Twilight said as she ran towards her post with Scarcity. A bunch of unicorns came bolting out of houses and stood ground ready to defend their town. They all had stern looks in their faces. But those stern looks slowly turned to fear as they saw a large black unicorn pony wearing some kind of suit and goggles obscuring its eyes from being visible. This unicorn must have been at least three times the size of a regular sized stallion with a horn that extended well over a foot long. _

_ "Um, Twilight... Who in Equestria is that?" Asked Scarcity._

_ "I'm not sure... But whoever that is, looks!-" She was cutoff when the black unicorn rammed a house which sent the corner of it crumbling to the ground. The whole Earth shook as that thing walked the ground. Running on both sides of the unicorn was the Ponytact clan._

_ "Like our new friend?" One asked as it took a torch and lit a house on fire. "It's a little something we managed to whip up!"_

_ Twilight sent a beam of energy from her horn towards the attacking Ponytact. He grunted in pain but just knocked down a wall causing the family inside to scurry out while screaming. Suddenly the Ponytact member was standing normally and just sneered at Twilight. "You don't think that will effect us anymore do you?" Then ran off to cause more damage with his fellow clan members. _

_ Twilight grabbed Scarcity. "Come on!" She said yanking Scarcity backwards. "We've got to lure them into the Element's boundaries!" She yelled and soon to follow were other unicorns of the town. _

_ The Ponytact's were right behind them giving chase. Eventually they all stopped and turned towards each other. No pony moving, just staring at each other. The huge unicorn came through as the Ponytact's parted for their boss. The unicorns all focused their power and shot at the large beast, however it just flicked its wrist and all of them were sent flying. The Ponytact's slowly crept towards the unicorns with sly smiles on their faces. However the unicorns got up with smirks across their faces. _

_ "What are they smiling about?" One Ponytact member asked another. The other just shrugged. Just then a huge flash of light broke through the night sky from five different corners! Just then-_

Twilight woke up. She was breathing faster and was sweaty. She leaned forwards and saw Spike was still sleeping, but the sun had risen already. She looked like a nervous wreck. "What a nightmare." She said slowing her breathing. She got out of bed and looked out the window. She saw birds flying and dew on the ground. It was a normal morning. She heard a yawn and Spike stretching.

"Hey Twilight." Spike said. Twilight turned around and just smiled at him.

She trotted downstairs removing her smile and opened the small leathery book again to the ripped out pages. "The Elements of Disharmony." She said to herself as she shook her head. "The consequences could be catastrophic..."


	2. Disturbing Discovery

Twilight was just standing there staring at the book blankly. Spike walked downstairs rubbing his eyes. "Are you still going on about that book?" Spike questioned but didn't get a response. "You really should stop obsessing over that thing, remember what happened the last time you obsessed over a book?"

"And it happened!" Twilight blurted as she spun around with a yell. Spike retreated a bit. Twilight sighed, "Sorry Spike, I just had a horrible dream."

"So you're worried about those Elements of Disharmony?" Spiked asked.

"How did you know?" Twilight said.

"Oh come on Twilight, every pony knows you talk in your sleep." Spike said. Twilight's ears just drooped and she had a worried expression on her face. "Oops, maybe I shouldn't have told you that." Spike said. "But anyway, how long have the Elements of Disharmony existed? About a bijillion years and nothing bad happened."

"That's not the point Spike. If any pony does find those elements, which eventually some pony _will_, Equestria as we know it could be doomed." Twilight said and trotted over to the other side of the library carrying the book still.

"Couldn't the Elements of Harmony just destroy the disharmonic elements?" Said Spike.

"Yes they could, at least, that's what I read what did happen." Said Twilight turning to Spike once again. "I am an element of harmony. So are my five closest friends." Said Twilight looking out the door.

"So..."

"So I think I know what has to be done." Replied Twilight.

"Alrighty, I'll ink a letter to the Princess telling her what's going on." Spike said reaching for the quill and parchment.

"No!" Twilight yelled and grabbed the quill and parchment from Spike. "Don't tell the Princess."

Spike stood there dumbfounded. "Uh. Can I ask why?"

"Because, no offense to her or her guards but, she would send the guards to do the job and would probably mess this whole thing up." Twilight closed her eyes and stood tall. "Nope, I'd rather this go unscathed and bring the Elements of Disharmony to the princess personally myself!" She opened her eyes and lowered her head. "I just hope the others understand."

Twilight was running to Sweet Apple Acres as fast as her legs could take her. She had her saddlebag intact and had the little leather book inside. She was getting tired and could feel the burn. She wasn't used to sprinting long distances, but when the opportunity called for it she could push herself.

She arrived at Applejack's barn house and knocked on the door. Applebloom answered it with a grin on her face. "Howdy Twilight!" She welcomed enthusiastically. "Here fer Applejack?"

"Yes. I need to speak with her right away." Twilight replied.

Applebloom motioned her to come inside. "Ah'll tell Applejack yer here." Applebloom left the room and Twilight was left sitting in the lobby. About a minute later Applejack came walking in.

"Hey there Twi. What brings you around to these here parts?" She asked.

Twilight stood up, "Well um. It's kinda important and uh... Well..." She thought to herself how absurd this will sound in speaking words.

"Spit it out girl." Applejack teasingly said playfully.

"Well, um... You know how we represent the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah... What about it?" Applejack's expression changed to a more serious look.

"What if I told you there were Elements of Disharmony?" Twilight said anticipating her friends response.

"Wha?" Applejack stepped back a bit. "Ah never heard of those before. Are you just yankin' mah chain Twilight?"

"No. Why would I run all the way here and say a slanderous lie?" Twilight said seriously.

"Ah guess that's true." Responded Applejack. "Well if there's Elements of Disharmony, how come ah never heard've them before?"

"Because only a couple books tell their tale. I'm not sure any pony else knows about this, I found two books in my library. A book that tells of what they are and what they do, and a book which I believe, to be the original copy and a few hundred years old!" Twilight levitated the small faded purple leather book out of her saddlebag and plopped it down in front of Applejack. Twilight spoke the last phrase in the book. "To this very day the Elements of Disharmony were never retrieved. But if they were to fall in the wrong hooves, the consequences could be catastrophic." Twilight closed the book and floated it back in her saddlebag buttoning it shut. "The pages get ripped out after that, and that's where the copy of this book ended too."

Applejack just stood there then looked up at Twilight. "So?"

"...So?" Twilight said. "So? So that means we need to go out and find these Elements of Disharmony and secure them, or even destroy them!" Twilight said frantically.

"Comon' Twi, yer just overeactin' to a fairy tale." Applejack said and was starting to get ready for her day of cider and juice making. "Now if you'll excuse me, ah gotta get tah work." She started trotting past Twilight. Twilight sat there looking depressed. Applejack noticed and sighed. "Look Twilight, ah honestly don't know why yer telling me thi, but-"

"Because we represent the Elements of Harmony! It is our job to prevent things like this from ever happening!" Twilight said back in a quiet screaming tone. "It's eating me up inside! I just gotta know if what I read was real! Believe me, I'm skeptical too, but I have to know!" She sat there with watery eyes.

Applejack just pawed at the floor for a few seconds before responding. "Oh pony feathers... Fine." She said not looking at Twilight. "When do you want to check this out?"

Twilight perked up from Applejack's agreeing. "Hmmm... An hour?" She said.

"Whathidga?" Applejack shook her face. "Today? Why today? Why not a day where ah'm not busy?"

"Because every second I go pondering about the Elements of Disharmony is a second of anguish! Not to mention the nightmare I had last night was scream-worthy. I have to get this clear from my conscience." Twilight explained.

"Well you do look pretty bad." Applejack said. Twilight looked up and beamed a scowl at Applejack. "Looks like you had a rough night is all I meant!"

Twilight smiled at her friend, "Thanks for understanding Applejack. So I'll see you at my place soon!" Twilight said bolting out the door back to town.

"Well, guess I should tell Applebloom it will only be her and Big Mac doin' all the work fer today. Poor filly." Applejack said to herself as she went to find her little sister.

Twilight had relayed her story to her other four friends and it all went pretty much the same way it did with Applejack. However Pinkie Pie was easy to convince because she just pretty much goes along with anything.

All six were at Twilight's library and were gathered around her. "So what exactly are we going to do?" Asked a hovering Rainbow Dash.

"Yes run through it all again.. But in a condensed version please." Said Rarity.

Twilight cleared her throat, "We need to find the Elements of Disharmony and either bring them back to Canterlot for the princess to decide what to do with them, or destroy them ourselves before any pony else _will_ eventually find them."

"Where exactly are these here elements Twi?" Asked Applejack. "You never told me where they were."

"Actually I don't think I told any of you. Sorry." Twilight said looking down, then looking back up towards her friends nervously. Her ears drooped a bit. "They're in um... The ancient castle of the royal Pony sisters..." Said Twilight as she got quieter as she spoke.

"How do yah know it's in there Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"In the book, it said the Elements of Harmony were placed in a guarded chamber, while the Elements of Disharmony were placed in a hidden area around there." Twilight explained.

Fluttershy covered her eyes and cowered. "We have to go back there?" She said loud, yet quietly at the same time. The other four gasped and talked amongst themselves.

"Well it's not like we have Nightmare Moon to worry about this time." Said Applejack which seemed to calm every pony down a bit. "we'll be in, have a look around, then back out."

"You mean we have to go in there just so Twilight sees it was all a fairy tale?" Rainbow complained. Twilight looked sternly at her. "I mean, heh, ummm... Ah that's exactly what I meant." She said then she flew out the door.

Every pony began walking outside. "Spike, we'll be gone for probably a few hours. You'll be alright?" Twilight said looking back at Spike.

"Go on Twilight. I'll probably just nap anyway." He saw that Twilight was still looking at him. "Oh and finishing my chores!" Spike nodded with a big fake grin. Twilight just turned and walked outside closing the door behind her. Spike just stretched then headed back upstairs. "Early nap but I don't care."

Four mares walked contently through the Everfree forest. Pinkie was bouncing with her happy eyes closed and Rainbow Dash was flying above them. It was an uneasy silence between them with the odd cracking of twigs and kicking of rocks.

"Hey Dashie enjoy that nap yesterday?" Asked Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash opened her half closed eyes as she was alert again. "Huh? Oh yesterday... Uh sure I guess." Rainbow replied thinking it was a strange random question right out of the blue that broke the silence. _'She's just being Pinkie Pie'_ Rainbow reminded herself.

"I really need a change of scenery. This icky forest always gives me this unclean feeling." Rarity complained.

The others just rolled their eyes and kept going. "So I didn't really break other pony's plans today did I?" Asked Twilight hoping they weren't busy today.

Applejack was the first the respond. "Well Twi, I was supposed to make apple cider and juice today with mah little sis and older brother, but I can't until we get back. As long as this is important to you, ah can hold off on a day of labor." Applejack said trying not to sound harsh.

"I was going to look for baby blue sapphires today with Sweetie Belle, but I suppose that can be put off for another day. She's with her orange friend with the purple mane today anyway. Ruffian that one is." Rarity said.

"Well I _was_ going to practice some new tricks." Said Rainbow Dash looking down on Twilight. "But then we came here. Tomorrow in the early morning, and I mean EARLY morning we need to make yet another rain storm for Ponyville. Honestly, why all the rain?" Rainbow asked to herself.

"Well I uh, was going to see my old teacher today. She was such a nice lady." Fluttershy said softly. "I was also going to replace a cup I smashed last night." Every pony stopped and looked at Fluttershy in bewilderment.

"Wow Fluttershy, you sure have a temper when you get angry!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"Um.. It fell." Said Fluttershy hiding behind her mane.

"I was going to create this super insane cool looking chocolate cake today, then eat it!" Said Pinkie. "It's too bad I can't now, but when I told the Cakes I was going on an adventure with you Mrs. Cake offered to pack my saddlebag for me! Such considerate pony's!" She said as she kept bouncing.

Twilight and Rarity just looked at each other and giggled a little to Pinkie's answer. But Twilight quickly looked serious again. "Gee, I didn't know you all had plans." Said Twilight looking down as she walked.

"No worries hun." Said Applejack. "One day off the farm might actually be good fer me."

Rarity spoke next, "Besides, this brings back decent memories of how our friendship came to be!" She said a little chipper than normal.

"Hey Twilight, ah just realized, why didn't you bring our elements with us?" Applejack said.

"Because we're not facing any real threat from the Elements of Disharmony." Replied Twilight. "They're physically encased in the stone." She reassured herself. But then a daunting thought struck her. _'What if those ripped out pages contained the information on how to release the Elements of Disharmony?' _Her stomach churned at this sudden realization of the dreaded_ 'What if' _factor. She decided not to tell any of her friends this thought. _'We'll just have to destroy them' _she thought to herself.

Twilight felt a sensation at the tip of her nose, then on top of her head and body. It was water, and pretty soon it started raining.

"Dang it! Lousy automatic weather in the Everfree Forest." Complained Rainbow as she slowly flew a little lower.

Rarity was the most concerned over this. "No not rain!" She said. "My lustrous mane will tangle!"

"Big deal." Replied Applejack, "Why do ya have to be all Hoity Toity in the forest anyway?"

"You know what would be nice? If it was raining chocolate milk!" Pinkie said while still hopping around, her hooves making squishing sounds every time she landed due to the dampening forest floor.

"I like the rain." Said Fluttershy, "It's so peaceful." But suddenly jumped and hid behind a bush when a flash of lightning ripped through the sky.

"Yeah... It's amazing..." Said Rainbow Dash in a not-so-impressed tone. She tugged Fluttershy out of the bush then started walking with the others.

The lightning grew more intense as flashes of light became more frequent. It was now thoroughly raining which caused the six ponies to get soaked in a short amount of time. "Well, what's the point?" Rarity said to herself. The clouds in the sky were now a dark purple which blotted out the evening sunshine and stretched out as far as they could possibly see. It was now dark in the forest from the storm and the rain was not letting up. "Rainbow, be a dear and clear those clouds please." Rarity asked nicely.

A big crash of lightning through the sky made every one of them jump since it was the loudest one yet. "Yeah, I don't think so." Rainbow replied.

Twilight stopped the group by extending a hoof out sideways. She could see something moving around in the distance through the flashes of light. Every pony was silent as they could see it too. A loud rawr could be heard and soon enough it was in plain sight standing before them in a clearing. A Manticore.

Every pony looked at Fluttershy and she just closed her eyes in contentedness and waltzed over to the beast. "You hurt again little guy?" She asked. The Manticore just screamed right in Fluttershy's face which caused her hair to be spiked backwards. She screamed and ran back to the group just missing the swipe of the creatures claw swinging at her.

"Something tells me he isn't very happy." Said Twilight.

"You think?" Rainbow retorted.

All them ran off to the side as the Manticore charged right at them. Twilight used her magical abilities and teleported all six high into a neighboring tree. She was exhausted from having to do that spell with that many ponies at the same time. "There. We should be safe up here." She said between breaths.

The Manticore looked up at them growling. "Now what do we do? We're sittin' ducks up in this here tree!" Applejack said looking at Twilight.

"Ooo that looks neato!" Said Pinkie pointing down towards the beast. All of them looked to see the Manticore unfurling its wings and begin to ascend towards their location.

Rainbow floated down towards it and began kicking towards the creature. It would just dodge the attacks by moving its head slightly left and right and eventually took a big bite in the air which Rainbow nearly avoided. She flew a safe distance and yelled to the others, "I think it's hungry you guys!" The Manticore moved its attention back towards the other five in the tree. and began flying towards them.

"Please stop! Please!" Fluttershy pleaded with both hooves together looking at the Manticore. It flew full speed towards Fluttershy who moved out of the way so fast it could challenge Rainbow Dash's speed. The creature smashed head first into the tree which dazed it. The impact to the tree made it crack. Twilight looked at Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. She sighed and conjured the rest of her energy to teleport them back down to the ground. Just as they landed back, the tree made a loud crack and finally toppled over.

The rain and lightning were even more apparent than earlier and made visibility even worse. All the ponies ran to hide under some shrubs. "Do ya'll think he saw us?" Asked Applejack.

"I don't think so. Maybe we can ride it out here Twilight." Said Rarity. She looked to her left and just saw Pinkie Pie, but no Twilight. "Um, where is she?" The three of them looked out and saw Twilight laying in the clearing, clearly worn out. The Manticore was right behind her and ready to swing.

"Oh no. Twi!" Applejack yelled. She ran out and stopped as the Manticore raised its claw to slash at a defenseless Twilight when a yellow pegasis flew in front of it.

Fluttershy was stern and was yelling at the creature. "Hey! Remember us? Remember me? We helped you in your time of agony and this is how you repay us? By trying to eat us for supper?" The Manticore lowered its paw slowly with a look of awareness. Fluttershy then applied 'the stare' to the creature which caused it to cower a little. "You're going to turn around, walk away, and not look back! Got it?" She continued staring. "GOT IT?" She screamed and was right in his face. It gulped and nodded then turned away slowly walking in the opposite direction.

As soon as it was out of sight the rest of them came out towards Fluttershy and were all cheering and congratulating her for her bravery. Rainbow flew down and gave Fluttershy a noogie. Twilight slowly stood up and bopped herself on the side of her head with her hoof a couple times to regain focus. "Whoa, what'd I miss?" She asked.

"Oh um, Fluttershy just used her physco stare and made it go away." Applejack said.

"The Manticore was right there and was going to get you because you weren't awake but Fluttershy flew in and saved the day with that awesomely terrific bestest stare in the world and saved you!" Pinkie Pie spoke extremely fast then grinned.

Twilight looked over at Fluttershy who was now blushing from all the attention she was getting. "Talk about timing." Twilight said and friendly nuzzled Fluttershy. "Thanks. You didn't just save my life, but all of ours."

"You saved ours too by teleporting us away." Said Fluttershy, "So we're even." She said trying to muster up a joke and lighten the mood a bit more. They all shared a laugh and eventually began walking again.

The rain and lightning were still not letting up and the clouds were moving faster than before. A fierce wind was blowing causing the trees to sway violently.

Twilight squinted her eyes and could make out something familiar... The ruins! "Hey look girls! We made it!" She said galloping towards the place but stopped because the path was broken off. Broken off by a broken bridge to be exact.

"Oh man you gotta be kidding me!" Rainbow said and walked over to the edge.

"So just fly over there and re-tie it like before." Said Applejack.

"There's a reason I haven't been flying since the Manticore. The wind has picked up." Said Rainbow turning towards Applejack. "If I fly over to tie it up, I'll just be tossed around and won't get anywhere." She said motioning towards the bridge.

"Well I have an idea." Said Twilight. "I could just use my magic to tie the rope at the end there."

Rarity interjected. "No no no Twilight, I won't see to it. You've done enough already and you clearly don't have the energy to do this." She said. Twilight looked coarsely at Rarity then realized she was right. Twilight was drained and needed to rebuild her strength. Rarity smiled and walked in front of them and focused her energy into the tying the bridge together. It was a pretty easy accomplishment and she managed to tie it up in no time. "Well then. Shall we?"

They all thanked Rarity and made their way across the bridge. Rainbow was getting excited due to the thrill of this adventure so far and therefore lead all of them by going first. They bridge swayed and rocked as they were all gingerly walking across. All of a sudden as every pony was near the middle Rainbow noticed the rope was sliding backwards slowly. She looked up in panic and saw the rope that Rarity had tied was loosening and was going to give out any moment now. She gasped and ran to the end which caused the rope to eventually fall. She made it to the land and quickly grabbed the rope in her mouth and was yanking backwards as hard as she could. Her neck muscles have never worked this hard before, but she was holding the bridge up.

The five still on the bridge were screaming and were running towards the land where Rainbow was. The grip was loosening in her teeth as she tried to hold up her friends weight on the bridge. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie all made it when the rope fell out of Rainbow's mouth causing the entire bridge to fall backwards and hang by one end.

They all looked at each other and noticed something. "Where's Applejack?" Pinkie blurted.

"Oh no!" Twilight panicked and ran towards the edge to peer downward and saw Applejack hanging onto the cliff side. "I see her!"

All of them ran over to the edge and saw exactly what Twilight saw.

"Hang on Applejack!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Rarity, can you levitate Applejack from the cliff side up to here?" Asked Twilight.

"No I'm afraid I can't. My magic isn't nearly powerful enough to lift a full grown pony." She said with a look of shame.

"I can't because I don't have the energy." Said Twilight with a hoof rubbing her horn. "Guess we'll have to do this manually." And spun around looking back to Applejack who was struggling to hang on. Twilight spun back to them. "Alright here's the plan; Rainbow will be lowered down to Applejack who will grab ahold of her, we all hang onto each other in a line and pull Rainbow up along with Applejack. Understand every pony?" They all nodded.

"Wait, why do I have to be the one lowered to pick up Applejack?" Asked Rainbow.

"Because you have wings, and even though this storm will toss you around if you fly, you have a better chance if anything goes wrong. Also..." Twilight sighed knowing this would boost Rainbow's ego even higher. "Also, you're stronger than the rest of us. I'm sure you could hold onto AJ longer than any other one of us..."

Rainbow pumped out her chest and smiled. "Yeah you're right!" She said.

"Um. A little help please!" Applejack yelled.

They wasted no more time and got to business. Rainbow stood at the ledge looking down at Applejack. Twilight grabbed onto Rainbow's hind legs. Rarity grabbed Twilight's, Fluttershy held Rarity's and Pinkie held Fluttershy's. Rainbow motioned she was ready and was slowly being lowered down towards Applejack. Rainbow saw that right past Applejack was nothingness. The canal was pitch black which caused Rainbow's eyes to widen. She shook her head and remained focused on helping Applejack. Her front legs were extended downwards and when she was low enough told them all to stop.

"Grab on." She said to Applejack. She knew the plan and grabbed Rainbow's front hooves with her own. "Alright I got her! Back'er up!" Slowly she could feel them being pulled upwards. She helped the others by flapping her wings lightly and soon enough had her hind hooves touching grass, then her knees and body then eventually her whole self. When she was close enough, Applejack pulled herself onto the surface panting. They were safe.

When they all caught their breath Rainbow stormed over to Rarity. "What was that? Can't you tie a knot properly? We could have all been doomed!" She was screaming. Rarity was just looking shamefully at the ground not moving. "Well? What's the matter with you?"

Rainbow turned away and bumped into Applejack. Applejack just shook her head. "Don't worry about it gals, the fact of the matter is that we are all safe and sound."

They all looked at each other and realized AJ was right. "We are all savin' each others hides tonight huh?... Thanks for not giving up on me." Applejack turned towards her friends with teary eyes. "Also, I think we all owe Rainbow Dash a big thank you for pretty much saving all our lives back there with the bridge."

"Awe hey it was nothing." Rainbow gave with a wave of her hoof.

"Oh now she's being modest?" Twilight teased. They laughed again and started onwards into the ruins, knowing their bond with each other grew even stronger than it already was earlier.

Twilight stood ahead of the pack into the room looking at the bare statue that once held the Elements of Harmony. This flooded back a bunch of memories to all six of them and all smiled at one another, remembering it was their friendship that defeated Nightmare Moon in this very spot a few years ago.

"Well we're here. So now what?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Last time we were here there was no separate room for the Elements of Disharmony. So they must be hidden. Maybe there's a secret latch or button." Twilight said looking around.

All the friends were standing in one spot just glancing around the room for anything that stuck out from the ordinary. "Either they're hidden, or they don't even exist." Said Rainbow again. "Probably the latter though."

"Stop being so skeptical Rainbow!" Twilight said with a tad bit of annoyance. "Maybe we can all look around. Press bricks, pulls vines, just try to find it."

"Well, I hope we all didn't come here for nothing." Said Rarity.

"We'll see..." Said Applejack while all of them scattered around looking for a secret.

"Um, what if we can't find the bad elements like you want?" Said Fluttershy.

"Then at least I'll have peace of mind. But I want to search every nook and cranny first to be satisfied." Twilight responded. Fluttershy just nodded very slightly and resumed pressing against the wall in various places.

"Wow, I've been doing this for only a minute and I'm already bored." Said Rainbow.

"Walking in all the mud, and having wind blowing and rain whipping my face had better been worth it. I look simply dreadful." Said Rarity.

Applejack just rolled her eyes. "Come on ya'll, it's not the end of the world if we have to get dirty."

Pinkie Pie interjected, "I love this! It's like a scavenger hunt!" Pinkie Pie was zooming along the stone floor slamming her hooves on the ground looking for a secret button.

It was well into an hour and there was a break in the clouds. They all looked up and saw the atmosphere color was darkening. "I gotta get to Ponyville for my weather duties by morning Twilight. I need to sleep so I'm outta here." Said Rainbow.

"How will you get back to Ponyville?" Pinkie said surprisingly calm.

Rainbow Dash just flapped her wings as if to point out the obvious. "I can get back to town in a few minutes by just flying over the forest." She spread open her wings ready to fly off.

"Dash, just keep looking. I'm sure we'll find something." Twilight pleaded.

"Yes, aren't you the element of loyalty Rainbow? Aren't you loyal to your friends?" Said Rarity sounding rather peckish.

"I'm also loyal to the ponies in Ponyville, besides, I've been loyal enough today." Retorted Rainbow.

"Ah didn't know there was a maximum loyalty limit." Applejack sneered.

"Whatever! I'll come back tomorrow if you're still here!" Rainbow said rather enraged and took off towards the sky.

"But Rainbow Dash wait!" Yelled Pinkie Pie.

"No!" She yelled while looking back at Pinkie. When she wasn't looking she missed the hole in the ceiling and smashed into the solid stone. Rainbow fell to the ground and landed with a thud having her eyes rolling around in circles. She groaned and slowly got up swaying around. Fluttershy gasped and came over to help her. Rainbow shook her head and regained her balance, not seeming worse for wear. "I'm okay, just a little dazed heh."

But then the ceiling above was cracking in the spot Rainbow Dash smashed her head into. Fluttershy and Rainbow shrieked and ran away to a safe distance from the cracking. The six were just watching the ceiling crack apart in the one spot and then it just stopped. They all blew a sigh of relief when all of a sudden a very loud cracking sound echoed throughout the ruins and that part of the ceiling just fell straight to the floor beneath it. A giant dust cloud appeared when the ceiling hit the floor which caused all of them to cough.

After they were done coughing Rarity was in Rainbows face, "I've been rained on, have bark pieces in my coat, grass stains on my belly and now I'm covered in a blanket of dust!" She said as she clearly was the dirtiest of them all.

"Forget about that! Look!" Said Twilight pointing toward the rubble with a hoof. They all looked in awe as they saw a big gaping hole where the ceiling smashed. Apparently the stone ceiling crashed into the floor hard enough to reveal a secret tunnel that ran just under the ruins. Twilight grinned in excitement then ran up and hugged Rainbow Dash. "You found it Rainbow!" She said and ran over to the hole in the floor then turned back around to her friends. "You found a secret passage Dash!" Before thinking Twilight just hopped in the hole.

Rainbow Dash looked a little shocked then gave a heroic pose. The rest of them didn't even notice and trotted over to the hole. The drop was only about eight feet down to the passage floor and saw Twilight looking up at them. "Come on girls! It's safe in here!" Twilight said still excited.

"I don't care anymore." Rarity said as she hopped in with little pieces of stone falling into her mane.

The rest smirked as they seemed to be a little excited and hopped in the cave. It wasn't that big, maybe only about five feet tall, three feet wide and the floor of it was still dirt. However the walls and ceiling of the tunnel were built from stone.

"So, we had to smash our way into the tunnel?" Asked Applejack.

"I guess. Perhaps they wanted to seal away the Elements of Disharmony." Twilight assumed.

"How do we even know those elements are in here? Maybe it's just a tunnel for other purposes." Applejack said.

The cave was dark and colder than the surface. They couldn't see very far ahead. The only light source they had at the time was the moon light shining in through the hole above them. Beyond that was pitch black. Fluttershy trembled but didn't say anything. A spider was walking next to her on the wall and she just ran and hid behind Pinkie Pie.

"I thought you loved every creature Fluttershy?" Said Rainbow Dash looking back at her friend.

"N-Not spiders. They're... Scary." She responded.

Twilight illuminated her horn for light and asked Rarity to do the same. There was a purplish and bluish glow to the tunnel now that seemed to extend surprisingly only a short distance. They walked slowly down the tunnel and were met by a set of stairs. They were all silent and walked carefully downwards towards the end of the tunnel. There were torches on the wall that were obviously not lit. The tunnel got taller and wider, and at the end saw a giant stone door that must have been fifteen feet tall and twenty feet wide. They were all stunned by this huge door that had markings, designs and carvings in it. Twilight walked closer and read right in the middle of the door: 'ELEMENTS OF DISHARMONY'

She gasped and then turned to her friends. "Hah! They are real!" She said pointing to her friends, mostly Rainbow Dash. "You all thought they were made up and I was reading a children's fairy tale, but I was right!"

"You're right Twi," Applejack spoke. "I thought you were just spoutin' a bunch of hooey, but I reckon there really are Elements of Disharmony."

"Yeah yeah. What AJ said." Said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight turned towards the door again and saw three gear looking mechanisms on the door. "hmmm. Is this a lock?" She looked closer. "Sure looks like one."

"It's a mighty big lock. Looks like whatever's inside, is supposed to stay inside." Applejack said.

"I have to know." Said Twilight.

"Don't be stubborn! You know they exist now lets go! I need a shower!" Said Rarity in a higher pitched annoyed tone.

"Well we can't just leave now." Said Twilight. "With that gaping hole in the floor there, any pony or any creature could stumble upon this."

Rarity just slumped down a bit.

"Okay well there's no sense in just sitting here, open that baby up!" Said Rainbow.

"Right." Agreed Twilight and her horn began illuminating a bright white at the tip. She clenched her eyes and teeth as she was giving a ton of energy from her horn. She groaned as her horn grew brighter. With the energy she expelled earlier it was incredible she could do this right now. The mechanisms on the door made a clack noise but weren't turning.

"I bet these mechanisms haven't budged for over a thousand years." Said Applejack.

Rarity stepped up and illuminated her horn too. She wasn't nearly as powerful as Twilight but she did help a little bit by applying some pressure to the giant mechanisms. Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other and shrugged then flew up and were manually pushing the mechanisms by hoof.

"Come on Pinkie!" Applejack said and ran up to the door pushing the bottom part of the mechanism trying to turn it. A loud sound of something breaking burst out from the door and every one of them stopped pushing and Twilight collapsed to the floor disabling her magic along with Rarity.

The mechanisms were rotating by themselves now and the door was very slowly swinging open. Twilight stood up and opened her eyes extremely wide. It felt like an eternity for the giant door to finally open up all the way but it was finally finished. It revealed a large square room that had nothing carved into the stone walls. Just sheer flatness. However it also had a stone floor unlike the rest of the tunnel.

They all slowly walked in the room side by side looking around cautiously. "I... can't believe it." Said Twilight as she walked up to six stone ponies that were all standing in different poses frozen. "This is exactly how the book described it." She explained. "I guess the book should be put in the non-fiction section when I get home."

There were five normal sized stone ponies in the room, but one giant unicorn posed in a fighting stance in the middle of them.

Twilight took in this sight as no pony has laid eyes on these in over a thousand years. She lit the torches on the wall so she could give her horn a rest. This lit up the room with a comfortable amount of light. After a few moments of savoring this indescribable feeling, Twilight turned towards her friends with fierce eyes and a wicked smile. "Girls, these are far too heavy to retrieve, so we'll have to destroy them!"

All her friends felt their heart jump for a second as they thought they would never hear Twilight say that. "Uh, are you sure Twilight?" Asked Fluttershy timidly.

"Yeah I mean, couldn't we just lock this door again?" Said Rainbow.

"No, and I already explained why earlier." Answered Twilight.

"Ah don't know sugar cube, there's a reason why these were hidden and never destroyed." Said Applejack.

"Just... Trust me on this. We must rid Equestria of these elements!" Twilight said.

After a long pause Rarity broke the silence. "I trust you Twilight. You seem to know far more about this kind of stuff than any other one of us." Rarity stepped forwards.

"She does bring up a good point." Said Applejack who trotted up next to them.

Rainbow just shrugged and flew beside them. Pinkie did the same except she bounced over towards them. Fluttershy didn't want to be alone so she flew beside the group. "I'm glad you understand." Twilight said. "Alright lets clear my conscience!" Said Twilight and without warning bucked the giant unicorn statue. It hardly shook.

"Let me show you how it's done." Said Rainbow and bucked the statue herself. It shook a little bit more but it didn't break.

"Now Rainbow, once again ah hafta show you up." Said Applejack and walked over to the statue. "This is how you do it." With one hard crack of her hind legs she smashed the bottom of the statue apart which fell to the ground missing all of them. "That is how it's done." She crossed her front hoof over another one in victory.

Suddenly a bright giant light flashed out from the statue! It was such an immense light they all had to shield their eyes and turn away. This lasted about fifteen seconds and then the normal light levels returned from the flickering torches. "What in Equestria was-" was all Twilight could say before becoming speechless. The rest turned around and also couldn't say a single word. They were frozen in fear.

They were face to face with another five ponies and towering over them was a giant black unicorn. The new ponies all wore smiles and devilish expressions. One of them spoke up.

"Thanks so much for releasing us. You have no idea what it's like to be encased in stone." He said in a rather raspy voice.

Twilight and company still couldn't move, couldn't even blink from sheer awe. The giant black unicorn stepped forward and spoke in a rather commanding tone. It's voice was so deep and booming that it could challenge the royal Canterlot voice. The echo within the room amplified its voice even more. "We thank you for releasing us from our bonds! Us, the Ponytact's who are dubbed 'Elements of Disharmony' shall now live on with that title!" Twilight remembered reading about the Ponytact's in her book. Everything in the book was spot on.

Just then another bright flash caused them all to shield their eyes again. When they opened them they were in even more shock. Standing in front of them was... Them! There were now two Twilight's, two Rarity's, two Pinkie Pie's, two Applejack's, two Rainbow Dash's, and two Fluttershy's. The Ponytact's copied their identities. However they still wore devilish expressions, while the original six all had drooped ears and were completely pale.

"You... You..." Was all Rainbow could say.

"Copied your looks." Said the Twilight Sparkle copy, sounding exactly like her. "But not only that, also your memories and knowledge."

"My my my." Said the copy of Pinkie Pie. "Don't you ever get tired of sugary snacks? Perhaps I'll eat... A vegetable!"

The original Pinkie gasped, "You wouldn't!"

Original Twilight had a weird expression on her face. "So what, the disharmonic element of Pinkie will make her eat vegetables? That's your master plan?"

Copied Twilight spoke up again. "Oh We'll do much more than that. Trust me, I have some ideas."

This just made all the originals slump down. "Oh this is going to be soooo much fun." Said copied Rainbow Dash.

The copies trotted out of the room and turned around back towards the originals. The copied Twilight lit up her horn and instantly the opening to the tunnel from the door had a purplish aura of energy like a barrier extend from the floor to the ceiling and wall to wall. "Consider yourselves getting off lucky!" And the door was slammed shut.

The six friends could hear the mechanisms clicking and soon enough stop. They were locked in the room. Twilight ran up next to the door and tried to use her magic but nothing happened with it. After a while of trying with nothing happening Twilight turned around to her friends with a look of worry. "That purple barrier is a magic neutralizer! I can't get through it!" They were trapped, and their copies were out and about doing Celestia knows what.


	3. Disharmony for all!

"Well, just teleport us outta here then like last time Twi!" Applejack insisted. Her pupils were small and she was sweating a bit.

"I can't! That magical barrier is blocking all access out!" Twilight said panicking.

Rainbow Dash looked worried, however that worry turned to anger as she flew up in the air and beamed a darting glare down at Twilight. "You just had to find these Elements of Disharmony didn't you professor egghead?" She flew towards Twilight and stopped right in front of her and imitated Twilight mockingly, "Oh uh, the Elements of Disharmony this and that. Blah blah blah, some pony will find them blah blah blah. You should have just let them be! They were secluded here! It's a miracle even we found them!" Rainbow paused to catch her breath but kept going, "We were intentionally looking for them! How could some pony stumble across them?" Twilight looked away with tears forming in her eyes. "Now we're trapped in here forever and it's all your fault!" Rainbow landed on the ground and threw her nose at Twilight as she trotted away to the other side of the room.

"I.. Uh." Twilight couldn't speak as she was afraid she would burst into tears if she did. She wanted to run away, but there was no where to run. Twilight simply turned away from her friends and laid down on the stone floor sulking.

Pinkie Pie wasn't so bubbly anymore and realized the seriousness of the situation. She quietly sat on her haunches and just stared at nothing. She wasn't moving.

Rarity tried to use her magic, but the barrier just blocked her abilities from passing through. "I can't believe this is how I'll be known when we eventually get discovered. 'The Dirty One.'"

Fluttershy simply sat down and did nothing much like Pinkie.

Rainbow turned her head to see all her friends in such a depressing state. It was dead silent in there, much like how it will be forever. But one thing struck her mind. "Doesn't fire need oxygen to stay lit?"

Applejack nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Well, we've been here for a while, and with four torches lit and us breathing, shouldn't we have run out by now?" Rainbow said.

Twilight sniffled then turned her head, "You know... You're right." She said.

Rainbow was really focused on the dead silence sound, but she heard something within it. A faint whistling noise. She cocked her head and saw one of the torches flickering more wildly than the other ones. She walked up to the torch and the whistling was a tad bit more noticeable. "Hmmm."

"What is it Rainbow Dash?" Rarity questioned as she trotted over to her pegasus friend.

Rainbow put her face closer to the whistling sound and her mane was moving slightly with a small breeze. "What the?" Was all Rainbow could say. This caught the attention of all her friends as they looked over to see what she was curious about. Twilight dried her tears and walked over to the breeze with her ears down in shame still. She reacted quite differently which swung her mood completely around.

"I know why we're getting air!" She then quickly faced away from the wall and bucked the stone really hard. Without warning a small chunk of stone shattered and collapsed revealing another tunnel. "An escape route! Incase any pony got trapped in this vault like we have!" They all smiled and looked down the tunnel.

"An escape route! WOOOOOO!" Pinkie Pie said all enthusiastically again.

Applejack looked down the tunnel as well, "I gotta say! Nice catch Dash!" She winked at Rainbow and then winked at Twilight.

Rarity looked down the tunnel and noticed it was a very steep decline but she didn't care. As long as it was a way out she was happy.

They all stepped into the tunnel at the same time and before they knew it, they couldn't stop themselves from moving. Gravity was doing its job and pulled them down the steep slope and just continued sliding! They were all screaming except for Pinkie who was having a blast. Down and down they went, and soon Twilight worried they were just going to get stuck even deeper underground. The tunnel twisted and turned causing the six to sometimes bonk heads together, or against the wall. Twilight lit her horn again for light to see ahead where they were going. Rarity was getting dirt thrown in her face by the ponies in front of her and turned her head away to breathe. Twilight noticed the tunnel was getting brighter even though she wasn't illuminating more magic than before. She saw at the end of the tunnel a faint bluish light. As they got closer, the light was getting brighter.

The six were coughing and felt themselves getting hit by droplets of water from above. Fluttershy opened one eye and saw green. She opened the other and raised her head to see a bunch of wet plants surrounding her. She looked up and saw a thunderstorm. She was never this happy to see a raging storm above her. She jumped in the air and screamed "YEAAHH!" With a hoof high in the air.

The others realized where they were too and also gave a celebratory shout and grin, then looked at Fluttershy. Fluttershy finally noticed her shout and pose then quickly hid behind her mane. "I mean... Yay."

Twilight looked up and saw that they were shot out of an exit chute at the bottom of the cliff. She looked higher and saw the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters way up at the top. Looking slightly right she saw the broken bridge where they had that incident with Applejack. Peering her head down was the blackness of the canal ahead of them.

Rainbow Dash walked over to Twilight with her head hung low and her ears back. She looked up at Twilight with sorrowful eyes. "Twilight...I just wanted to appol-"

Twilight put a hoof over Rainbow's mouth. "I forgive you Rainbow." Twilight softened her expression a bit. "I was angry at myself too. I deserved everything you said, but everything turned out alright didn't it?" Rainbow raised her head and gave Twilight a smile, then a hug.

Fluttershy raised the awkward meter with an "Awwww." Rainbow and Twilight opened their eyes quickly and ended the hug retracting fast. Twilight looked away and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

"So we good?" Asked Rainbow.

"Yep."

"Uh gals, since we found the Elements of Disharmony and all, and now they're loose, what do ya'll suppose they're doin'?" Asked Applejack.

"Well they have our memories and knowledge supposedly." Twilight said responded to her orange friend not looking at her, but rather the night storm above them. She then faced Applejack. "Whatever it is, it'll be..." She gulped remembering her book, "Catastrophic." Her pupils got tiny just thinking about that.

"Well we must stop them!" Rarity yelled out behind them.

"How do we do that? Should we assault them with cake 'till those meanie weenies leave?" Asked Pinkie Pie.

"No Pinkie." Twilight's expression changed to a commanding one then turned to face her friends. "We use the Elements of Harmony!"

_(In the rest of this chapter, all mane six characters are the COPIED disharmonic versions of themselves.)_

"What's say we have a little fun with these new costumes?" Asked Rarity. "You know, before they've served their purpose."

"Ah agree with 'Rarity'" Applejack said putting the emphases on her name. They all laughed and were nearing the outer edge of the Everfree forest.

"All right then ladies, lets have a little fun. Since we know their knowledge and memories, lets abuse this privilege and meet up at the library later." Twilight said, who was the obvious leader of the group. The leader of the Ponytact's was the large unicorn, the beast was now a copied Twilight.

"Time to ruffle some feathers!" Yelled Rainbow Dash.

The Group charged off towards Ponyville to cause havoc.

It was now mid afternoon. It was a perfect day. It was warm and sunny with just an odd white cloud floating here and there.

Applebloom was busy helping Big Macintosh make apple juice. It was easy. Applebloom would squash an apple over a strainer, and the juice would drop into a barrel. Big Mac would lid and stack them inside a barn.

Applebloom wiped the sweat from her brow and noticed a figure in the distance. "Applejack!" She squealed and ran up to her sister. She gave Applejack a big hug. "Where were you sis? We were worried 'bout ya!"

"Out of mah way Applebloom." Applejack pushed Applebloom off to the side and trotted up to the barrels of apple juice. Applebloom just got a little teary. Applejack had never wanted her out of the way, especially if they haven't seen each other in a while. Applejack looked at the barrel, then at Big Mac. She had a puzzled look on her face. "You make this here juice?" She asked.

"Eeyup." He responded.

Applejack opened a barrel and looked inside. "Well I gotta say, this is the worst looking juice I'd ever seen in all mah life!" Big Mac dropped the hay straw out of his mouth in surprise. "Take it from me Macky, I wouldn't drink this if mah life depended on it." She stomped a hoof to the ground. "Good gravy..." She looked over to see Applebloom.

"Why... What... What'd we do wrong?" She asked in disappointment.

"What did you do wrong? What _didn't_ you do wrong is what you should be askin'." Applejack looked back at the barrel.

"We, *sniff* we did our best." Applebloom looked at the ground where a tear fell. She looked away trying to stay strong.

Applejack shook her head. "Disgraceful sis. I'm truly disappointed. What a waste of apples. Thanks a lot!" Applejack was walking away with a sinister smile on her face that no pony could see. She quickly trotted back and snorted at her siblings. "Pitiful ya'll." She then bucked a barrel on the bottom of a pile which caused a bunch of barrels to fall and smash apart, spilling all the apple juice, and ruining Applebloom's and Big Mac's efforts. She then walked back to the house-barn smiling.

Applebloom plopped down on the ground instantly and started crying. Big Mac came over and comforted her while shooting her supposed sister a glare. What was Applejack's problem? She had never snapped at her sister before, no matter what the mistake was. However Big Mac knew this juice was just perfect, and Applejack destroyed it. He wasn't upset for the fact that the juice was gone, but that his youngest sister was excited about helping all week, and she poured her heart and soul into this. Applejack wasn't even grateful for her sisters help. Instead she seemed to be the complete opposite.

Big Mac galloped towards Applejack and stopped in front of her with a look of determination. "Nnope!" He said rather angrily.

Applejack just turned around and bucked him straight into the side of the house without even changing the normal looking expression on her face. "Looks like you have injured ribs again brother!" Applejack said and walked into the house laughing. Applebloom ran over to Big Mac wiping away the last of her tears.

"Big Mac! Oh my gosh are you alright?" She said concerned.

Big Mac just laid there with a grimace and groaned, "Nnnope."

Rarity turned and bucked her door open to the Carousel Boutique. "Rarity! You left me all alone for a really long time! I'm hungry!" Sweetie Belle squeaked at her sister while coming down stairs looking rather annoyed. Her stomach growled and she held it. "I haven't been able to reach anything in here."

Rarity shot a glare at her sister. "Well maybe you should learn to use your magic pip-squeak!" Rarity yelled. Sweetie shrunk in place as Rarity walked up towering over the little filly. "Now get ready. We're going sapphire hunting." She gave a nonchalant wave of her hoof to tell Sweetie Belle to get ready. She got a small bag and carried it in her mouth. Rarity looked at the bag and ripped it from Sweetie's grasp and stomped on it with a hoof. "Do you honestly think_ this _thing will be enough?" Rarity said. She magically got a bag the size of the entirety of herself and flung it over Sweetie Belle. "We'll be filling this one up."

Sweetie poked her head out from under the bag as it was the size of a blanket compared to her. "We need to fill THIS huge bag with rare sapphires?" Sweetie cried.

"...Yep!" Rarity said. "Now here's the deal my dear sister, I find the sapphires, you dig them and carry them in that bag, then I make you something to eat when we're finished."

"When we're finished?" Sweetie blurted and jumped out from under the bag. "I'm hungry now! This bag will take forever to fill!" She yelled and lifted a corner of the bag with a hoof looking at it quite angrily.

"Well we best get started then?" Rarity asked rhetorically.

Sweetie sat there with her mouth agape. Was she really supposed to fill this whole bag before getting food?

Rarity was heading out the door and called back. "Sweetie Belle! Get over here right now and do as your big sister commands!" She pointed a hoof out the door with her eyes closed.

Sweetie was flustered, but did as she was told. She put the big bag in her mouth, dragging it as she walked out the door. Rarity closed the door and locked it. They both knew where to find sapphires and were heading in that general direction.

Sweetie saw an apple on the ground and felt instant happiness. She let go of the bag and ran for the apple. She picked it up in her hoof ready to take a bite when Rarity swatted it out of her hoof and stepped on it, squashing the apple into mush. She put on a thin smile and looked down at Sweetie Belle. "No." Is all Rarity simply said and handed the bag back to Sweetie to put in her mouth. "We're not done yet Sweetie. Oh why, we haven't even begun!" She started to trot towards her destination again. Sweetie was already starting to feel weak, and had no idea why her sister would deprive her of one of natures natural and most simplistic needs.

While walking down the path she saw Scootaloo walking the opposite way and they greeted each other excitingly, well, at least Scootaloo did. "Hey Sweetie Belle!" She said enthusiastically.

"Hi." Was all Sweetie could muster.

"Hey Sweetie, What's with the bag?" Asked Scootlaoo.

"I'm filling this up with sapphires for my sister..." She started to tear up and looked over secretly to see that Rarity was far enough away not to hear her. Sweetie whispered in Scootaloo's ear while looking at Rarity. "You need to help me! Bring me some food! I haven't eaten all day and Rarity won't let me eat until this bag is filled which will takes hours!"

Scootaloo's face immediately changed from happy to concerned. She also looked to Rarity and noticed she was standing a ways away not looking at the filly friends. She whispered back to Sweetie Belle. "What? That's awful!" She continued looking at Rarity. "No pony should have to go through this. This is just slavery!" She darted her eyes back and forth. "Come with me to my place. We'll take care of you there and you can hide there until your big sister comes to her senses."

Just then a flash of blue light appeared around Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, teleporting them right in front of Rarity. "You're so thoughtful little sis!" Rarity said rather mellow-dramatically and looking at Scootaloo. "It's so nice that you convinced your friend to help too!"

Scootaloo flinched and looked at Sweetie then back at Rarity with small pupils. "What? I never agreed to-"

Rarity cut her off. "I said, it's nice you convinced your friend to help too." She said between gritted teeth.

Rainbow Dash was flying full speed towards the sky. However a voice calling out to her stopped her in mid-flight. "Rainbow Dash!" Yelled an ill mannered mayor. Her eyebrows slanted downwards indicating she was upset. Rainbow Dash came down to see her at eye level. "Whatever happened to that rain storm you were supposed to create this morning? It was your job!"

Rainbow Dash closed her wings as she landed on the ground. "Look, I can do it now." Rainbow said.

"You can't just do them whenever you feel like. Your job is scheduled!" Said the mayor.

"I said I'll do it!" Snapped Rainbow without hesitation.

The mayor just stepped back a bit. "Well uh, make it snappy then." She said more calmly. She was not used to being yelled at.

Rainbow unfurled her wings and flew off towards the sky at full speed talking to herself. "You want a rain storm? You got it." She said with much determination. She gathered loose clouds and plumped them all together. With each cloud she added, the storm cloud grew bigger and darker. Rainbow grinned sinisterly as her creation was beginning to reach dangerous levels. Rainbow kicked it, and it spread throughout the sky with ease.

Thunder was beginning to rumble and Rainbow looked at the cloud one last time before darting off. "Here's your rain storm!" She bucked the cloud as hard as she could and flew upwards to a safe distance from the storm. Thunder and lightning were flashing and banging everywhere at a fairly constant rate. Then, a downpour of rain came flooding from the sky. Within seconds everything was soaked and small puddles already began to form.

Rainbow Dash then flew back down and punctured a hole in the cloud which automatically filled itself again. She flew under a nearby shelter and landed next to the mayor. "Stormy enough for ya?" She asked sarcastically.

"Tone down the intensity at once!" The mayor commanded.

"Why? Afraid you'll get wet?" Rainbow Dash teased before bolting out of there. The mayor just had her mouth hanging open as she didn't understand why Rainbow would do this all on purpose.

A bolt of lightning came down and struck a nearby tree causing it to catch fire. However the downpour of rain dowsed the flames immediately. A few more trees were hit and had the same effect. The rain quickly created large puddles and small streams of water to run down the streets.

Rainbow looked back at the cloud hovering over Ponyville and just smiled while patting herself on the back.

Pinkie Pie came running into Sugar Cube Corner desperate to get out of the rain as quickly as she could. She shook when she got inside getting her surroundings wet.

"Boy it's a doozy outside." Said Mr. Cake to Pinkie.

"Duh." Said Pinkie as she walked over to the counter.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake looked at each other and just shrugged. Mrs. Cake walked towards Pinkie. "Pinkie, you wouldn't mind creating the rest of the orders tonight would you?"

Mr. Cake stepped up. "We have to deliver our orders today, and with the rain it'll take longer than normal since we have to protect them." Said Mr. Cake and pointed towards a few delicious looking trays of desserts covered by a tarp.

"Oh I sure can! You can count on me!" Pinkie said trying to sound as convincing as ever. She walked behind the counter and gave the Cakes a silly salute.

When the Cakes had left, Pinkie rubbed her hooves together and looked down at the different cakes behind the display case. "You're mine now." She said as she ate the cakes one by one. "Wow! Eating something in over a thousand years sure makes the food taste that much better!" She figured she still had a good amount of time until the Cakes came back.

"Alright lets see..." Pinkie said taking out the order sheet. She noticed she had to bake three more cakes by tonight. "Hmm, I could just not do them but where's the fun in that?" She asked herself. Then she had a great idea.

Pinkie was creating a nice chocolate cake and it looked absolutely wonderful. It was a double stacked cake covered in chocolate icing and had some candies stuck to it. Pinkie then walked over to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and took out some ear medicine. "I just wish I could see them taste it!" She said excitedly and trotted over to the chocolate cake just sitting there. She popped off the cap to the medicine and slowly tilted the bottle downwards until a little bit of drops fell onto the cake. She spread the medicine throughout the cake evenly and looked proudly at her handy work. "That's one baked bad." She gleefully scurried away.

"Nurse Red Heart will have her hooves full tonight." She exclaimed. "Alright! Onto the next order!"

Fluttershy was in her cottage and all the animals were fed. Angel hopped over and pointed to his food dish again noticing Fluttershy forgot to put food in there. "Oops. Let me put some food in there for you pal."

Angel closed his eyes and stood happily next to dish awaiting his fill. Just then a loud thud was made and Angel looked to see what was dropped in his dish. His eyes watered and ears drooped. He shook his head and had an angry scowl on his face again. He picked up an old rotten flimsy carrot with mold growing on it and threw it on the ground forcefully.

"What's the matter? Don't like it?" Fluttershy said with an evil grin. "Well then starve tonight."

Angel had a shocked look on his face and then looked back down at the carrot. Fluttershy simply snickered to herself and then opened the door. Angel knew something was up. Usually Fluttershy wouldn't be so cruel and she was scared of lightning storms, but she simply took off without a care in the world.

"Now to go talk to Fluttershy's old teacher, Mrs. Cotton Cloud." She said as she flew above the storm cloud towards her old city, Cloudsdale.

After a few minutes of flying at a quicker pace than usual she arrived at her destination. "Oh right, I also needed a new mug. Might as well get that since I'm here." Fluttershy landed on a cloud and walked towards a nearby souvenir shop. She looked around for a bit inside the store and noticed there was an abundance of items. From Clocks to watches and spoons to mugs, however she never saw a 'Junior Speedsters Flight Camp' mug.

"Excuse me." Fluttershy got the attention of the clerk. "Where's the Junior Speedsters Flight Camp cups?"

"What?" The clerk was taken back, "You can't buy those, you earn them by passing that certain camp class."

Fluttershy's expression turned to anger. "Oh of course!" She shouted rather quietly. She huffed and left the store, but as she was halfway out the door she whipped her tail at a plain white mug which fell off a shelf and through the cloud floor to the grassy ground. Before the store clerk could do anything, Fluttershy had taken off and disappeared.

A little while later Fluttershy arrived at her old flight camp. This brought up so many memories, however she knew those memories weren't exactly hers but she digressed. Walking into the camp building was a taste of nostalgia as things haven't really changed in the surroundings. She walked around a bit and eventually came to a door that had the label of 'Mrs. Cotton Cloud'. She grinned mischievously.

She entered her old teachers room and noticed an old frail pegasus pony marking sheets of paper. The teacher looked elderly, almost as old as Granny Smith but was pure white in color. She had Orange eyes and a picture of a cumulus cloud cutie mark. She stopped marking and tilted her head to left noticing a figure standing beside her.

"Is that? No it can't be..." She sat there pondering with a hoof on her chin.

"Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus simply said.

"Oh my Fluttershy it's been so long! How are you?" She said standing up rather shakily but had a big smile on her face.

"Oh I've been fine... Wow Mrs. Cotton Cloud, you sure look old." Fluttershy stated. The teachers smile remained.

"Yes haha, I've aged a few since we last saw each other." Fluttershy was about to say something but Mrs. Cotton Cloud interrupted her, "I'm so glad my past students still remember me. It's quite the gesture to come all this way to see me." Fluttershy was about to say something again but the same altercation happened. "I honestly didn't think any pony would remember me. But enough of my moment, what are you up to nowadays my dear?"

Fluttershy waited a few seconds in case she got cut off again and began to speak when she felt it was fine. "I help sick animals and unlike a lot of pegasi, I live near the ground." She then looked right at her teacher. "So any pony fail flight camp? If I recall you were a pretty bad teacher." Fluttershy was laughing inside at her insults. But to her shock this didn't seem to bother the teacher in the slightest.

"Yeah I wasn't exactly the best teacher a pony could have, but I've improved." She kept looking at Fluttershy with a smile. "You see, the older you get the more mistakes you make. However a pony learns from mistakes and gets better and better at whatever they've been doing for a while. So my teaching abilities have improved since you were my student."

Fluttershy stood there looking puzzled and was getting angry. Why couldn't she break her teachers spirits with these insults she was throwing at her? "Well I don't really notice a difference. You just look like an old pegasus who should have left the game years ago."

Mrs. Cotton Cloud winked and returned grading her papers. "Never give up my dear. This is something I love to do. Helping little fillies and colts fly just brightens my day."

Fluttershy just groaned loudly and left the room, unsatisfied that things didn't go exactly as planned. "Come back anytime Fluttershy!" Was all she heard as she trotted down the hallway frustrated.

"Am I rusty after being a statue for over a millennium?" She asked herself as she snatched an apple out of a young fillies hoof, took one bite then threw it away.

"Hey!" The filly yelled at Fluttershy as she kept trotting away and taking off in flight not even caring about the young filly whose apple she just wasted.

"Nah, she's just a senile old lady." She concluded to herself and flew back towards Ponyville.

Spike was lounging in a chair with his head resting in one of his palms. He was finished his daily chores and had no mess of Twilight's to clean up since she had been gone since yesterday evening. Just as he was dozing off Twilight magically opened the door and walked in with her eyes half closed and a smug look to her face. She then slammed the door closed causing the baby dragon to open his eyes wide.

"Twilight you're okay!" Spike said giving his mentor a hug around Twilight's neck. Twilight pushed Spike back.

"You know Spike, I've had it up to here with you." Twilight said raising a hoof in the air.

Spike broke the hug and looked back at Twilight looking confused and shocked at the same time. "Wha... What do you mean Twi?" He stepped back giving some personal space.

"Well for starters you always complain when you have to pick up books and do chores, and this thing you have going on with Rarity is just... Weird." She said walking in no particular location.

Spike stood there not expecting a lecture as soon Twilight returned home from her trip. Especially one completely random as this.

"Now clean up those books!" Twilight turned her head towards Spike.

Spike looked around, "Uh, what books Twi?" He asked since the place was spick and span.

"Those ones!" She pointed a hoof to the corner and magically lifted all the books off of a shelf and dropped them to the floor in a tussle. "Make it snappy Spike, I'm expecting company in a bit."

"What?" Spike laughed. "Oh I see what you're doing Twilight, you had me going there with this whole 'acting tough' persona." Spike pumped out his chest when he said that.

Twilight walked over to Spike and magically lifted him in the air so he was face-to-face with her. "Clean up those books or you're in big trouble mister." She said between gritted teeth.

Spike's happy smile was replaced by a look of terror. He's never seen Twilight so angry over reasons unknown. The magic ceased and he was dropped to the floor with a thump. Spike got up and dusted himself off. He slowly walked over to the pile of books and sighed with his head hanging.

"You see Spike?" Twilight said to her assistant. "You always complain about this sort of thing." She looked on as Spike didn't respond and was picking up a pile of books. "Fine, now you have to clean this." She unloaded another shelf beside Spike and another pile of books fell to the floor.

Spike dropped the books he was holding and spun around to look at Twilight across the room. "You know what Twi? I'm not cleaning any of this!" He yelled back at Twilight. This was the first time he's actually felt extremely angry directly towards her.

Twilight just scoffed and unloaded another shelf full of books. She pointed towards the pile in a grumble manner without saying a word. "Clean it up!" Spike just stood there with a lame look on his face. "Fine, be that way. This is not the Spike I know and love. In fact, I don't love you at all Spike."

Spike's angry emotion was gone instantly. He felt his heart sink in his chest and started to tear up. He marched upstairs and out of Twilight's view. With a crack of lightning the entire tree house went dark and silent. A small flickering lantern gave off its presents in the upstairs room. Spike came down with it in hand, and holding a bag that was closed in another hand.

"What's the meaning of this?" Twilight asked. "You still haven't picked up those books!" She yelled in his face with dilated pupils.

Spike walked around her and headed towards the door. He stopped there and turned around. "I'm leaving Twilight. If you're going to act this way and treat me with no respect or as a butler, then I have no reason to be here." He opened the door.

Twilight got even angrier at her little dragon ex-assistant. "Fine! Leave! See if I care!" She made a shooing motion at Spike.

Spike sighed, "Goodbye Twi, I'll be back when you aren't being so disrespectful." With that, he walked outside with a heavy heart into the cold stormy dismal Ponyville streets and closed the door.

Twilight could see him walking down the street getting soaked. Spike looked back at the tree house one last time, and turned his back towards it, walking away in the muddy streets. When Spike walked around the corner and was out of sight from his former home, he broke down in tears and sat against a houses exterior. He had his hands in his face and was sobbing uncontrollably. He raised his head and noticed the streets were completely empty do to the fact that the storms intensity was still raging on. Looking up he saw random pegasi trying to break apart the storm, but it was just too strong. Spike looked back down to the ground not caring if he was getting drenched. He felt nothing but emotional pain right now. "How could she not love me at all?"

Back in the library Twilight was looking out the window. She turned around with a grin on her face. Walking up to a lantern she lit with no effort from her horn. She sat there waiting for the rest of her clan to meet up with her.

It was dark outside now and nearly midnight. The storm that Rainbow Dash created had finally dissipated and cleared up. The night sky was pitch black with the exception of Luna's star spotted universe and moon illuminating as the only light source in all the land. It was completely silent out now since most ponies were in a deep sleep. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all arrived at Twilight's library at pretty much the same time and they all stood in her living room.

"So, every pony have fun today?" Twilight asked her fellow clan members.

They all nodded and smiled. Rarity gave a grin and bragged that she made her sister and her sisters friend work for her throughout the day. "Then, they both ran off!" Rarity finished her story and they all laughed.

"Yeah I was pretty rough with my 'family' too!" Applejack proudly stated. "Why, I wouldn't doubt they all hate Applejack now." They all laughed again.

"A little while earlier Pinkie was fired from Sugar Cube Corner!" Pinkie stepped in. "Purposely sabotaging peoples orders and admitting them to the hospital." Pinkie rubbed her hooves together devilishly.

"Fluttershy better not go to a certain store in Cloudsdale." The yellow pegasus spoke. "I just don't really understand her old teacher though."

"I think you all know what I caused!" Rainbow Dash blurted and pointed a hoof outside. They all nodded.

"Great work every pony." Twilight said. "I managed to get Spike out of here and out of Twilight's life! Playing the family love card always works." She said closing her eyes standing up tall. "But now that our families are questioning our actions, I say we have the general public do the same." The group stood there listening to their leader intently. "We have to do something... Something big." She stood there thinking for a while. "Oh lets just do what we normally do. Vandalize and destroy."

"Sounds good tah me." Applejack said. The rest agreed and nodded.

"Then lets do it..." Twilight said, and lead her group out the door and into the empty, dark, damp streets. "Oh wait! I have to get something first." Twilight walked into her library for a few seconds and returned with a saddlebag.

"What's in the bag?" Asked Rarity.

"Just a few important objects." Replied Twilight.


	4. A Slight Detour

_(In this chapter, all mane six characters are the original versions of themselves.)_

"Come on girls we're almost home!" Twilight Sparkle Yelled back to the rest of her friends as they galloped through the Everfree forest. She could see faint buildings in the distance to indicate they were almost out. Rainbow Dash was flying above them at the same speed the rest were running at.

It was still the darkness of night and the moon was high in the sky, giving the six the light required to see where they were going. It was a rather uneventful run through the forest. No creatures tried to harm them, nor did they get lost. The group was basically worrying about a copy of themselves running amuck, tainting their names and reputations that they weren't even concerned with the Everfree Forest's terrors.

They finally exited the forest and were in a grassy clearing. They all stopped and plopped down to the ground laying on their belly. They were all gasping for air, trying to regain their energy. However after being awake for so long, not eating and going through an undoubtedly large amount of stress in the past day took their toll.

"We can... Sleep here... Can't go on... Anymore!" Said Rarity who was still looking like a living pile of dirt that walked.

"Fer once ah agree with Rarity." Said Applejack. "I'm tired n' hungry, we can't go after our copies if we're all tipsy-con-korted." She said as she lay on the grass still.

"I vote for rest." Said Fluttershy sounding rather exhausted.

"Whatever, I missed my scheduled weather duty yesterday morning anyway. Who cares about the next one?" Said Rainbow.

Even Pinkie wasn't energetic anymore. The depletion of sugar from her body showed and she was just lying there with her eyes closed half asleep.

"It's just a little ways to town girls, we can sleep in my house until tomorrow." Said Twilight.

"Dang it Twi! Just rest here! Ah can't take another step!" Applejack yelled rather uncontrollably at Twilight. Twilight's ears went down and she shrunk where she was sitting. Applejack closed her eyes and sighed, "Sorry Twi. It's just been a rough couple o' days. Now rest up for tomorrow." She rolled to her side, the grass was her bed tonight.

Twilight decided every pony else was right and rolled over on her back with closed eyes. She opened them and saw the blackness of space above her with Luna's stars faintly shining light years away. She has stargazed and studied the universe before, but never actually slept beneath them nor just appreciated their sheer beauty for joy. She looked over to her friends who were already sleeping due to them being completely wiped out. She looked back up and saw a single streaking shooting star fly across the black sky. Twilight shook her head in a daze and remembered she had a big day ahead of her, and closed her eyes, drifting off to a welcoming unconscious state.

Fluttershy awoke first, to see all her friends still peacefully sleeping. Rainbow Dash was the only one there who was snoring quite audibly, but the rest were too tired to take notice and slept right through it. Fluttershy's stomach growled and reminded her that much like her friends, she was in desperate need of nourishment. She looked back towards the Everfree Forest and saw some shrubs just at the edge of it. She slowly walked over towards them with a yawn and rubbed her eyes.

The sun was slowly getting higher and higher in the sky while the others kept sleeping. It must have been almost noon until the rest were waking up one by one. A big red blob caught their attention sitting on the grass. They all looked over and saw the blob was in fact a big pile of wild berries sitting there. Fluttershy winked at them. "Have some breakfast." Was all she said.

It took a moment, but all of them walked over and started gracefully eating. The graceful eating turned into full fledged gluttony as their hunger got the best of them. They were all stuffing their faces except for Rarity who kept eating the berries one at a time, not cramming a hoof full in her mouth.

Eventually they all stopped and blushed a bit, noticing they acted like pigs.

"Our job sill isn't over." Said Rarity who waved a hoof.

"So what do we have to do in order to beat these nasty meany-weenie bad guys?" Pinkie spoke up.

"Well we'll need to harness the Elements of Harmony like we did with Nightmare Moon and Discord!" Twilight said. "So we should get going. Oh and thanks Fluttershy for getting berries. They were delicious." All the friends gave their thanks and trotted towards town. They could see smoke rising up from some buildings and the entire place looked like a complete disaster. "Oh no. I think we're too little too late!"

The trot turned into a full gallop when Twilight put out a hoof which stopped them all. She didn't say a word but instead pointed to a piece of paper stapled to a tree. Twilight looked up in horror with her friends following suit. "I can't believe it." Twilight said.

"We're... We're!..." Was all Rainbow Dash could say.

"Criminal scum!" Applejack finished.

Up on the tree trunk was a picture of all six of them, currently known as Equestria's worst fugitives. They all stood there in silence, jaws agape. According to every pony around, Twilight and company were tyrants. Rarity spoke up to read the wanted poster out loud. "Six ponies by the names of Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are hereby wanted for the devastation caused to commercial and private property. However the six fugitives pulled off the biggest heist in Equestrian history when the Ponyville bank was robbed, with the six successfully getting away with a substantial amount of bits then destroying the bank shortly after. Princess Celestia is giving the award of ten-thousand bits for the capture of each fugitive." She stopped reading and fell to her haunches.

"Princess Celestia? My mentor! My proactives! My future! It's all gone!" Twilight was tearing up and fell over to her side.

Applejack walked over to comfort Twilight and took her hat off, holding it against her with a hoof. "Guess it's up to us to capture these here disharmonic elements." She said.

"Well now how do we get the Elements of Harmony? We can't exactly walk through Ponyville to get to your library Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said floating a few feet off the ground.

Twilight sat up and just stared at the poster. Her tears went away and her face was soon replaced by anger. She stood up and turned to her friends. "I've had enough of this, even if it has been just a day since they've awakened!" She angrily said making Fluttershy hide behind Rarity. "They singlehoofedly destroyed our lives and our homes! I'm not sure about you, but I want to turn them into stone slowly enough so they realize they'll be encased for all eternity!" She slammed her hoof on the ground.

"Well, what's the plan then?" Asked Applejack.

"Hide?" Was all Fluttershy contributed.

"You know that's a good idea." Said Rarity. "We need a spot temporarily just to get our bearings and a plan together."

"Yeah, it's a miracle no pony found us sleeping out here in the open last night." Said Applejack.

They all scanned the land around them looking for a hidden spot they could use for a short time home. Rainbow just shrugged and pointed towards the Everfree forest. "No pony is crazy enough to go in there... Well, except us. We should find a spot in there maybe?"

"You know, we don't have many options." Said Twilight. They all trudged over to the forest again, and entered the same place where they left. They were all walking slowly, scanning their surroundings for any type of hidden shelter. Just a little while later they were deeper in the forest, but could still make out the town in the distance. Pinkie bounced up and down while pointing excitedly to a massive shrub that had an entrance to go inside.

"I don't know Pinkie, that looks occupied." Said Twilight unconvincingly. The party pony bounced over to the bush and hopped right in. They all cringed and noticed Pinkie wasn't making any noise and she hadn't come out.

"Pinkie!" Dash flew in there at full speed. A couple moments later she poked her head out and gave a smile, then waved the rest of them to come inside. They all walked inside carefully and noticed it was hollowed out and seemed to be perfect for hiding in. A little bit of sunlight was making its way inside. The ground was surprisingly bare, it was just flat dirt with a few pebbles here and there but also had three gemstones tucked into the branches.

"I wonder if there's any chance this is some ponies or something's home?" Applejack asked herself out loud eyeing the gems.

Rainbow Dash was busy sealing up the entrance by placing branches of trees and leaves in front of their little hiding spot. "I can't stay cooped up for too long in here." She said. "My wings get very sore and itchy if I don't fly. I honestly don't know how you do it Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus gave a little blush.

"Alright lets see." Twilight started as her five friends gathered around her. "One: The Elements of Disharmony has pretty much made us the most infamous ponies to date." She turned her head to look the other way. "Two: We need our Elements of Harmony for a chance to set things right." She looked back again. "Three: All the while Princess Celestia has to know it wasn't us, but imposters. What's the point of turning them into stone again if our reputations remain tainted?" They all nodded in agreement. "Four: We must remain undetected." She sat there for a while before speaking again. "This is quite the conundrum girls."

The branches and leaves Rainbow just recently placed at the entrance were getting thrown off to the side from something on the outer region. They could all hear mumbling and became as silent as space. They were sick to their stomachs. _"Oh no, some pony saw us!" _Twilight thought to herself.

"What's all this doing here?" They heard a familiar voice come from the entrance. Just then a purple and green figure walked in holding a few gemstones. He dropped them and walked backwards slowly, unsure of what to make of this situation. Spike stammered and tripped over his own feet and landed on his back.

"Stay back! Especially you Twilight!" Spike got up angrily and was ready to run out of the shrub, but Twilight surrounded him with her magic and levitated him back in the place. Spike started screaming, "Help! Some pony help!" But a cyan hoof covered his muffled screams.

"Spike, we're not fugitives!" Twilight said to him.

Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from Spike's mouth. "Yeah right like I'm going to believe that!" Spike said with a growl.

"Spike, it's the truth!" Applejack spoke up.

"You're all crazy! Let me go!" Spike struggled, but Twilight's magic was too strong for him to escape.

"Whatever you heard or saw us do, well... It wasn't us!" Twilight said trying to convince her assistant.

Spike stopped struggling and burst into tears which caused the ponies to retract a bit, thrown off by the sudden burst of emotion from the baby dragon. They were all silent and looked at each other, then Spike looked up at Twilight with watery eyes. "Why don't you love me anymore Twilight? What did I do?"

Twilight looked at Spike with concern. "Spike of course I love you. You're family to me, and I love you with all my heart." She took a hoof and wiped away some of Spike's tears. "Why on earth would you think differently?" She released her magical hold against him and he landed on the ground softly.

"Why? Well you said it yourself Twi." He sat there slumped forward.

"Listen to me Spike, that was not me."

Spike looked up, looking more confused than sad now. "How could it not be you? You were right there when you said it!"

"Remember the quest to find the Element's of Disharmony we all went on Spike?" Spike shook his head slowly. "Well, we found them. However we awakenedthem, and-"

"_We_ awoke them?" Rainbow blurted out. She then cowered when everyone looked at her. "Sorry."

Everyone returned their attention to Twilight. "Anyways, they're powerful beyond words. They duplicated themselves to look like us, and now our identities are tainted."

Spike looked up to the ceiling and put a hand on his chin and rubbed it. "You know Twilight, that kind of makes sense. I had a feeling something was wrong with you... Well not you, but, well you know what I mean." He stood up and turned around to face the rest of them. "So all of you that basically destroyed a good chunk of Ponyville last night, wasn't you?" They all nodded. Spike put a hand on top of his head and ran it down his spikes. "Oh thank Celestia. I thought you all just lost your mind." His tears stopped and looked normal again.

"So you see Spike, this is us. We've just been framed for a huge crime." Twilight said, then she perked up just thinking about something. "I've got a plan!"

The rest all leaned forward. "What is it Twilight?" Asked Rarity.

Twilight looked down at Spike and grinned. She then looked at the rest of her friends. "Spike can bring the Elements of Harmony to us here! That way we don't have to risk getting caught if we went to get it ourselves!" They all murmured in agreement and Twilight turned towards Spike. "What do you say number one assistant? Care to help?"

Spike pumped out his chest and gave a salute. "You can always count on me Twi!" He was ready to walk out the shrub, but then he stopped and turned around. "Um Twilight, actually, all of you."

"What is it Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Maybe we should come up with a secret word. You know, just so I know it's you and not the other you's." He explained.

"Well if it makes you feel secure partner, ah think that's a swell idea." Applejack interjected.

"Cotton Candy Swirl Cherry Chunga Chimney Thinking!" Pinkie said enthusiastically, jumping just low enough to not hit the ceiling of the shrub.

"I don't know Pinkie." Dash said. "No really, I don't know. I already forgot what you said."

"How about 'element'?" Rarity said.

Twilight put a hoof to her chin then shook her head. "No, the word should be something not used frequently. It should be out of context."

"How about, 'pancake'?" Spike suggested.

They all nodded until Pinkie said something. "Ooo! I love pancakes! Especially with sugar!" They all just stood there looking at Pinkie.

"Yes, pancake is our secret word." Twilight said. Spike nodded then left then came back again. "Is there anything else you want while I'm gone?" Spike asked.

"Actually a little food would be great for the future." Twilight said.

"No problem. Pancake, don't forget!" He pointed at them then walked out from the shrub towards town.

Rainbow Dash was lying on the dirt floor holding her head up with a hoof. "Well, now what?" She asked looking a little bored. "Does Spike even know what book our elements are held in?"

"I think so." Replied Twilight. "He must. He saw it when you all were playing keep away with it." She shot a glare towards Fluttershy who blushed again. She waved a hoof in the air. "but that's all ancient history and Discord's doing." She said trying her best not to make her friends feel guilty about that ordeal.

Rarity lifted her mane with a hoof to inspect it. It was all over the place and covered in caked up mud and dirt. She was still a big mess. Rarity sighed to herself. "You know, we better get somewhere soon. I don't think I can hold on much longer being icky like this." She stared at the ground then back up at Twilight. "I should have had Spike fetch me a bucket of water and soap."

"Honestly Rarity, we don't care. Especially at a time like this." Rainbow Dash retorted. "Now, I think I'll take a nap waiting for Spike. I had a rough sleep last night."

Twilight created a temporary hole in the shrub by opening one with her hoof and peered out towards town. She saw Spike in the distance still walking towards town. "hmm, maybe I should have told Spike to run." She put her hoof back down causing the shrub to fill in the hole immediately.

Spike walked in the shrub when the sun was just starting to set. "Sorry I took so long guys. I just couldn't find the book considering the shape of our home Twi."

Twilight looked up with smaller pupils than normal "What? What happened to our tree house Spike?" She asked sounding a little panicky.

"It's just that evil Twilight pretty much emptied all the shelves onto the floor." He was about to hand Twilight the book but then put it behind his back. He waved a finger in front of him. "Uh uh uh! Not until you say it."

"It?" Twilight asked herself before realizing what Spike meant. "oh right!" She looked at him and winked with a small smile. "Pancake." Spike gave the book to Twilight and she put it on the ground in front of her. "Finally to fight fire with fire!" She said happily and unlocked the snaps to the book. Every pony face turned to horror as they saw the elements were not in the book! There was only a piece of ripped paper with a short sentence on it. _'The Elements of Harmony are now ours!'_ Twilight looked straight up and snapped the book closed with authority. She then face hoofed herself and clinched her eyes shut. "Of course. They have our memory and knowledge. They knew we were going after them!"

Spike put a basket down on the dirt floor. Inside was assorted types of food. However no pony had an appetite at the moment.

"Well, now what?" Applejack wondered.

Just then all of their ears perked up. "What the?" Rainbow poked her head outside and came back in quickly. "TIME TO GO!" She screamed panicky. The distant noises they heard were getting louder. Twilight opened the shrub again and turned completely pale.

In the distance was a mob of ponies. They were all angry and were storming towards their hideout. Twilight quickly closed the hole up. "The jig is up! It seems like the entire town is coming at us!" Out in the distance she could hear that they followed Spike, knowing he would lead them towards the framed fugitives. "Spike they followed you!" Twilight turned towards her assistant. "You didn't..."

"Of course not Twi! I wouldn't purposely bring them here!" Spike said rather loud.

"Whatever, we're goners now!" Said Rainbow Dash.

"No we aren't! Good thing I haven't used a substantial amount of magic for a while! Hang on!" Her horn started glowing a bright white light. She groaned and started sweating. "Come on, come on!" She was grimacing just saying that.

The mob of ponies was now just a few trees away from raiding their hiding spot. Just then a brown colored pony with a sand timer cutie mark poked his head in the shrub. "We got you now!" He said as he reached in. Just then a huge flash of light exploded from within the shrub, causing most of the mob to fly backwards from a shockwave of magic. The shrub itself blew apart into pieces and all that remained was a small crater where the seven of them used to be. The mob got up all confused and looked around the surrounding area, but couldn't find any of them.

All seven of them reappeared out in the middle of no where, all fizzled and burnt. Twilight immediately fell onto her stomach and was knocked out from sheer energy loss. The rest of them shook hard enough to get the burn remnants off their bodies and saw Twilight just lying there.

"What is Equestria did she do?" Applejack asked.

"Being a unicorn myself, I think I know." Rarity said. "She exerted so much magical energy, her body is now physically drained." She looked around. "No wonder she's out cold, she teleported a total of six ponies and one dragon way out here!" She pointed a hoof outwards. The rest looked around. They were in the middle of a desert with rocky mountains around the landscape and no town in sight.

"Twilight teleported us all the way out here? Geez!" Rainbow said taking to the air. "She was out for a few minutes just teleporting us away from that Manticore, I can't imagine this."

"Well, we best be going then. At least out here there's no threat of any pony searching for us. At least ah hope." Applejack said. She flung Twilight's unconscious body over her back and could feel her inhaling and exhaling, a good sign.

"Umm, which way to the nearest... Whatever it is we're looking for?" Fluttershy quietly asked.

Spike looked up skywards and noticed the sun was starting to set behind the distant mountains. "We should find some shelter. I read that it gets really cold out here at night time." He said.

Rainbow Dash just shook her head towards him. "Nah you got it wrong Spike," she closed her eyes contently. "It gets chillier when you go higher, not night time in the desert."

"Guys, I'm cold." Rainbow shivered. Spike just rolled his eyes. He was sitting beside the still unconscious Twilight Sparkle, clearly worried about her. Rainbow saw this and walked over and sat beside Spike. "Don't worry Spike. Twilight's a tough pony, she just needs all the rest she can get."

Spike looked up at the cyan pegasus then looked down at the ground. "I know Rainbow. It's just that Twilight is like my big sister. She's the only family I've got."

Just then Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were in sight. They were carrying a small amount of wood with them and they dropped it in a pile when they reached Rainbow, Spike and Twilight. "Spike, will you do the honor?" Rarity asked.

"With pleasure my lady." Spike stood up and gave a proper bow and walked over to the wood. He blew a green flame onto the wood and it instantly lit up and provided a nice warm sensation that comforted them all. He walked over towards Twilight again but turned around quickly when he belched more fire into the sky.

"Whoa nelly Spike! You don't need to do that anymore." Applejack said.

When the fire dissipated a rolled up scroll appeared in the air and fell straight into Spike's hands. The rest of them looked at each other then back at Spike. "What does it say Spike?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Is it an invitation to a party?" Pinkie bounced up.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is." Rainbow said sarcastically. "It's obviously from the princess. What does it say?"

"Oh no." Spike said and turned around to the rest of his friends. He put a hand to his mouth and cleared his throat and began reciting the letter.

_Dear Spike,_

_ As you have probably heard, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have single-hoofidly became criminals overnight. I'm not sure what could have sparked this senselessness, but it would appear they have no other intentions besides spreading chaos and havoc across Equestria. As painful as this is, I have decided Twilight is no longer my student as she is hereby expelled from my teachings. Your services however are still needed, and you will be assigned to assist a new pupil eventually. Please come to Canterlot Castle A.S.A.P. __without__ Twilight or her friends. _

_ Princess Celestia_

"That's all it says." Spike rolled the scroll back up and placed it on the ground. He looked over at Twilight and tears formed in his eyes again. "I don't want to leave Twilight." He turned back towards his concerned looking friends. "I don't want to leave any of you either."

"Oh Spike. We can head to Canterlot and meet with the princess ourselves and tell our side of the story." Rarity waved a hoof.

"Now there you go on Rarity without a' thinkin'! We'll be imprisoned before we even get past the entrance to the city there!" Applejack said rather annoyed. "After all we're..." She shuddered for a second and gulped. "Criminals."

"Oh um. You're right." Rarity said and looked down.

"Imprisoned? I couldn't stand that. I think I'd go crazy with all the other scary ponies around me!" Fluttershy started freaking out.

Spike burped out another scroll and held his stomach from it aching. He reached down and picked up the newest scroll. He cleared his throat again and read it.

_Dear Spike,_

_ Please disregard the previous message. Stay away from Canterlot for your own safety! Twilight and her friends are here and my royal guards are having a very hard time containing them! Some of the guards have turned stance and are siding with Twilight. Just make sure you stay away! stay a!/]/,,./.._

The letters ink seemed to trail off into nothing more than windy scribbles. "Well that throws a wrench in our monkey." Spike said.

It was quiet until Fluttershy spoke very softly. "Maybe not." She hid behind her mane after saying those words.

"What was that?" Asked Rainbow.

Fluttershy stood up and spoke clearly. "Maybe it doesn't throw that wrench at a monkey."

"How do you figure that?" Spike wondered out loud.

Fluttershy turned to face him. "Perhaps the Princess will realize what happened and will listen to us if she notices there's two sets of us. It's definately better for her to see, because at this point she wouldn't believe we were telling the truth."

Applejack rubbed her chin. "You know, you do have a point there Fluttershy." She said nodding her head.

"One thing is really bad about this though." Rarity said. "If the evil Twilight is getting the royal guards to work for her like the princess said, won't she send them out to look for us?"

"I never thought of that!" Rainbow flew and hovered a few feet off the ground looking around nervously.

"So it wasn't a party invitation?" Pinkie asked.

All of them looked at each other again then at Pinkie. "Ah don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation we're in Pinkie." Applejack shook her head.

"Another question is, how are we going to even _get_ to the castle?" Rarity brought up another valid point. "Without Twilight's powerful magical abilities we wouldn't stand a chance against all those guards."

"I just hope Twilight gets better. We need to all pull together as a team if we are to meet with the princess... Even if our chances are slim to nothing." Rainbow stated.

"Let's just sleep on it and figure this out tomorrow mornin'." Applejack said, seemingly taking an alpha role of the group. Without speaking a word, the rest of them silently agreed and got into comfortable positions for the horrible sleep they were bound to have.


End file.
